Whether you have heard about this briefly in the news or have clicked on this article with no knowledge of this current political conflict, this is the place to go for a quick, yet explained summary of the current American and Russian relations.
The United States and Russia have had many conflicts in the past, so this isn’t a new occurrence. However, recently, there have been two main reasons why the US has been putting sanctions, a “threatened penalty”, particularly a financial one, on Russia, and why President Biden has called Vladimir Putin a “killer”.
First of all, in August of 2020, Alexei Navalny, Putin’s political “opposition” who is known for speaking out against corruption in the Russian government was poisoned through the use of a deadly nerve agent Novichok. He has since spoken out about it, and he has also claimed that he is currently being tortured by Russian authorities in prison, which he was sent to due to a money laundering case from 2014. Although he survived the poisoning, however, there are many Russian critics of Putin’s who have ended up disappearing or have openly been killed. The US placed sanctions on Russia because of this as an attempt to, in a way, “boycott” trade with them to speak out against injustice. This is why Biden replied “I do” to a reporter on March 16, 2021, when asked if he thinks Putin is a killer. In the past few weeks, this has built a lot of tension between the US and Russia, as Putin has gone out of his way to make a video as well, where he accused Biden of being a hypocrite for this comment, claiming that “it takes one to know one.” Putin has also asked Biden to go live on air with him to discuss the current situation one on one.
Furthermore, tensions between the United States and Russia have been rising for a long time, even before 2020, a notable point being the investigation of Russia’s potential meddling in the 2016 American Presidential elections when the “Mueller'' Investigation was put in place to uncover any Russian interference with American democracy. It is also no secret that Vladimir Putin had a good relationship with Former President Trump, so, when there was some evidence that Russia could have attempted to interfere in the latest 2020 Presidential elections in favor of President Trump once again, the Biden Administration wanted justice against Moscow, so that is another reason why they currently have sanctions on Russia. It is important to note though, that this time around Russia hasn’t been accused as much of being involved in changing votes, as they were suggested to have done in 2016 in the Mueller report. Instead, they have allegedly been more involved in leaking information that could damage Biden’s campaign, like former allegations against him, for instance, to get him to lose, which as we know, did not work. These sanctions have added an even bigger strain on US and Russian relations.
One additional interesting thing to know is that President Biden has also been having some conflicts with China, a country that previously actually disliked Mr. Trump, who placed sanctions on them in 2018. This is since Biden’s administration has clashed with the Chinese government on several issues recently. One of these issues is the current Uighur Muslim genocide, essentially a case of ethnic cleansing and indoctrination camps that the United States has currently taken a stance against. The US has also spoken out against China’s control of the world, suggesting a potential abuse of power when it comes to a balance with other countries. But, why is this relevant to Russia? Well, these recent, common disagreements with the United States have brought Russia and China closer together, and their leaders have openly spoken about how Russian and Chinese foreign trades might have to rely on each other as to not be dependent on the US, and to persevere without them, a potentially scary reality for the White House.
And, that is a quick summary of what is happening between Russia and the United States at the moment. Good on you for staying informed!
- Julia Andrade
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